Tuesday
Jan032012
Tue, January 3, 2012 | by Lisa Barger Gilroy Spice Warned For Linking To Garlic Articles
Gilroy Spice Company, which is known for its “wickedly hot” foods like pickled garlic and its garlic habanero mustard has been officially warned by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, or FDA, for claims made on its websites, www.gilroyspice.com and www.garliccapitalproducts.com.
It seems that back last summer FDA inspectors paid Gilroy Spice a visit and, as a result of that inspection, also took a look at the company’s websites. On those they found links to pro-garlic articles—including medical studies—that the agency says Gilroy Spice is using to make medical claims.
Gilroy Spice makes absolutely no medical claims of its own, at least as far as I can see, but just linking to studies and articles about the pro-health benefits of garlic was enough to get the FDA’s dander up. And while it may seem nitpicky for the agency to do something like this, it’s not really that surprising. Nor is it new. In the past few years POM Wonderful, for example, has been warned for linking to studies done on its own products. Under current FDA regulations, using even good scientific studies in this way suggests an intended use and companies simply can’t do that without prior agency approval.
Gilroy Spice was also warned for a handful of labeling violations. Inspectors don’t like the use of adjectives like “minced” and “granulated” in the products’ ingredient lists, for example. Nor did the agency approve of the word “habanero” because “habanero” is not considered a common name for that particular pepper.
Gilroy Spice Company has 15 working days to answer the FDA’s allegations and correct the alleged violations. The letter was dated December 12, 2011 but as of my visit to the company’s website this afternoon I found the links to the garlic studies still there.
Source:
FDA. (2011). Gilroy Spice Company 12/12/11. (WARNING LETTER). Accessible at fda.gov/ICECI/EnforcementActions/WarningLetters/2011/ucm285395.htm.
Gilroy Spice Company. (No Copyright Listed). Multiple pages accessed on January 3, 2012 from garliccapitalproducts.com/.
It seems that back last summer FDA inspectors paid Gilroy Spice a visit and, as a result of that inspection, also took a look at the company’s websites. On those they found links to pro-garlic articles—including medical studies—that the agency says Gilroy Spice is using to make medical claims.
Gilroy Spice makes absolutely no medical claims of its own, at least as far as I can see, but just linking to studies and articles about the pro-health benefits of garlic was enough to get the FDA’s dander up. And while it may seem nitpicky for the agency to do something like this, it’s not really that surprising. Nor is it new. In the past few years POM Wonderful, for example, has been warned for linking to studies done on its own products. Under current FDA regulations, using even good scientific studies in this way suggests an intended use and companies simply can’t do that without prior agency approval.
Gilroy Spice was also warned for a handful of labeling violations. Inspectors don’t like the use of adjectives like “minced” and “granulated” in the products’ ingredient lists, for example. Nor did the agency approve of the word “habanero” because “habanero” is not considered a common name for that particular pepper.
Gilroy Spice Company has 15 working days to answer the FDA’s allegations and correct the alleged violations. The letter was dated December 12, 2011 but as of my visit to the company’s website this afternoon I found the links to the garlic studies still there.
Source:
FDA. (2011). Gilroy Spice Company 12/12/11. (WARNING LETTER). Accessible at fda.gov/ICECI/EnforcementActions/WarningLetters/2011/ucm285395.htm.
Gilroy Spice Company. (No Copyright Listed). Multiple pages accessed on January 3, 2012 from garliccapitalproducts.com/.